Bucking opposition from conservative Islamists, Zanzibar’s Parliament on Wednesday repealed a controversial law that prescribed jail terms of up to two years for unmarried young women who fall pregnant.
Lawmakers on the semi-autonomous Tanzanian island voted to replace the provision with one that sets a sentence of six months of community service for schoolgirls and unmarried 18- to 21-year-old women who fall pregnant.
The replacement of the 1985 Spinsters, Widows and Female Divorcee Protection Act does not affect the three- to five-year jail terms for men over the age of 18 who impregnate schoolgirls and women covered by the law.
As its predecessor did, the new legislation, which must still be signed by Zanzibar’s President Amani Abeid Karume, leaves cases of minor boys impregnating young women to be settled by families.
Women’s rights activists had complained that the provision of jail sentences for young unwed mothers and pregnant schoolgirls ruined their lives as they had to drop out of school, serve a prison sentence and raise their child.
But the amendment had been criticised by some in Zanzibar’s Muslim community — which makes up more than 90% of the population — as being too lenient on girls and encouraging them to engage in pre-marital sexual activity.
Salim Juma Othman, Zanzibar’s Minister of Health and Social Welfare, defended the change, denying it will promote promiscuity among the island’s youth and saying it will bring the legal code up to international standards.
”We do not want a draconian law like the [original] Spinsters, Widows and Female Divorcee Protection Act,” he told lawmakers during a lengthy debate on the merits of the revision.
”On the other hand, the government has decided to come up with this new Act due to the importance of protecting this vulnerable group,” Othman said, referring to schoolgirls and young, unmarried women.
He said the new law is the result of the government striking a balance so that schoolgirls and young unwed mothers do not unnecessarily suffer, and men are still punished for misbehaviour.
Despite the fierce debate, the 50 lawmakers in attendance at Wednesday’s parliamentary session all voted in favour of the change.
Thirty-five MPs were absent, an AFP correspondent said. — Sapa-AFP